Lebanon's police chief is facing legal action linked to an alleged secret telecoms network after the president referred the case to the justice ministry on Monday.
President Michel Sleiman asked the justice minister to take the necessary measures against General Ashraf Rifi after the police chief refused to pull his troops from a state-controlled building where the network is based.
"The presidency requests (caretaker) justice minister Ibrahim Najjar take the necessary judicial measures... following the refusal of the head of police to obey a request by the interior minister that the second floor of the telecommunications ministry be vacated," Sleiman's office said in statement.
Ziad Baroud resigned from the portfolio at the weekend over the issue.
Lebanon's telecommunications sector has emerged as yet another bone of contention between the country's feuding political parties.
Hezbollah and its Christian ally, former army commander Michel Aoun, have accused Rifi's police force -- considered close to Saudi-backed caretaker premier Saad Hariri -- of using what would be a state-owned network for their personal ends.
Lebanon, which has one of the world's priciest telecoms sectors, has two private mobile service providers, Alfa and MTC Touch.
State-run telecommunications provider OGERO has said the second floor of its building in Beirut housed staff working on the third network, funded by China.
OGERO has said the network is still being tested, but Aoun has raised suspicion that the network is already in use by Hariri.
Iranian- and Syrian-backed Hezbollah for its part has slammed the police intelligence bureau as "the intelligence militia" over the telecoms controversy.
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